Google's Humble Beginnings: From BackRub to Global Search Giant

Google's 28th anniversary marks a significant milestone in the company's history. Founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google started as a university project called BackRub, which analyzed links to determine relevance. This technology eventually became the basis for PageRank, a system that ranked results differently than other search engines.

In 1997, Page and Brin changed the name from BackRub to Google, inspired by googol, a mathematical term representing a 1 followed by 100 zeros. The domain was registered on September 15, 1997, after Sean Anderson mistakenly typed 'google.com' instead of checking for availability.

The project needed funding and received a crucial investment from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, who wrote a check for $100,000 payable to Google Inc. in 1998. However, the company did not yet exist legally, so Page and Brin had to complete the incorporation process before depositing the check.

Google's innovative approach to search quickly gained users, as it took into account link structure and importance, unlike other engines that relied on keyword presence. Over time, Google expanded its operations with products like Gmail, Maps, Chrome, Android, YouTube, and cloud computing services.